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"I Love You So, I Always Will"

posted 4 years ago by ecarle (14979)
8 replies | jump to latest

I stumbled onto a "cache" of videos of Laura Nyro singing her own songs on YouTube.

Nyro is one of those famous song artists who wrote songs made famous by other people(Barbra Streisand, The Fifth Dimension, Three Dog Night, Blood Sweat and Tears) but, when singing them on her own, demonstrated that she had the BEST voice and sentiment to sing her songs. Because the songs came from her heart.

The thing of it was, I guess, that especially as a female artist, she didn't quite have the looks. Carole King was in this boat too -- but King overcame it, used her music to win fans, became a true giant with "Tapestry" and some lesser-selling but fine later albums. I would suppose that Nyro could have followed the King path -- and she clearly was a concert artist in her own right -- but...."unsung."

Which is too bad. NYRO singing her own songs is a revelation, with a heartfelt, sad and deeply emotional voice that cuts right through you -- invoking happiness sometimes even with the sadness.

Case in point: "Wedding Bell Blues."

This was evidently a first radio record sung by Nyro herself...but it didn't really sell. A few years later, The Fifth Dimension got a Number One out of it.

Its a great song about a woman who is, yeah, well..desperate for her long-time man to marry her. Dated, I guess (Nyro later said "I hope you don't take it too seriously..I wrote it when I was very young")...but still heartfelt and leaving one HOPING that the man will ask her.

Anyway, The Fifth Dimension version is just fine(with Marilyn McCoo on the lead vocal) but...Nyro's version? A true, deep to the heart revelation.

And just one one key phrase: "Bill...I love you so, I always will..." Just listen to the way Nyro sings that , and phrases it(with some back-up ladies underneath.)

In a nutshell...that's the difference.

Nyro wrote some soulful stuff...Blood Sweat and Tears made the most of it(And When I Die, He's a Runner.) Barbra Streisand got a big hit from it(Stoney End); The Fifth Dimension, quite a few. (Streisand AND The Fifth Dimension did "Time and Love" -- I'm not sure who did better.)

But to get the "real deal"...try Laura herself.

And Wedding Bell Blues is her sweetest...

[–] Owlwise (1535) 4 years ago

Great post! And I completely agree. I was a teenaged boy when Laura's early albums came out, and I loved them deeply, as I loved all heartfelt, honest music. Nothing against the Fifth Dimension, who were quite openly grateful, saying, "Laura Nyro has been very good to us." But Laura herself brought a wrenching, beautiful passion to her music than no one else could ever match. As you note, she could bring an immense amount of intense, soul-wrenching feeling with just the right pause, or the slightest emphasis on a single syllable held just a split second longer than expected.

As for looks, to me she had the beautiful face of a pained, been-through-it-all-and-came-through-stronger street Madonna (the religious one, not the 1980s one), both ethereal & earthy. Few singers could combine the sensual & the spiritual in the way that she could.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

But Laura herself brought a wrenching, beautiful passion to her music than no one else could ever match. As you note, she could bring an immense amount of intense, soul-wrenching feeling with just the right pause, or the slightest emphasis on a single syllable held just a splint second longer than expected.

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I think that the more traditional "pop artists" who recorded her material were forced to use more "standard arrangements." Nyro herself would play all sorts of tricks with pauses and sudden bursts of words -- rather like a jazz singer, I guess -- that were not really "radio friendly" but cut deep.

"Wedding Bell Blues" has real uplift in her voice, but there is on YouTube a clip of Bobby Darin(in his "cool" Bob Darin 1969 phase) introducing Nyro to sing two songs in a row on an NBC TV show -- a long solo "He's a Runner" where she belts out the phrase "woman ain't be born that can make him stay" with a power that must have blown out the TV tubes in '69; then Nyro takes a long pause, seats herself at a piano and does the "jaunty" intro to "Save the Country" before turning THAT upbeat(but political) song into something with its up weird beats in her timing. Its a great performance.

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As for looks, to me she had the beautiful face of a pained, been-through-it-all-and-came-through-stronger street Madonna (the religious one, not the 1980s one), both ethereal & earthy.

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Yes, I probably shouldn't have said that. There are lots of photographs of her in which a certain beauty shines through. Perhaps her offbeat and ferocious singing style was more hard to sell than her looks.

I recall regretting how, came the 2000's, a bunch of great female country singers with average looks and great voices were "displaced" by Faith Hill and Shania Twain. Their songs were fine, too -- but there was no need to cashier the other ladies for THEIR looks.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

Few singers could combine the sensual & the spiritual in the way that she could.

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No. I grew up on the "covers" of Laura Nyro by all those other acts -- but through my readings of the time, I came to understand that all those great songs had ONE writer(Nyro) and that she performed on her own. Though I just stumbled onto this cache of YouTube videos recently, I have vague memories of hearing Nyro do her own works sometime, somewhere (TV , not in concert.) And I definitely remember her version of "Wedding Bell Blues" coming out before the Fifth Dimension one.

A male analogy of the same time would be songwriter Paul Williams, who REALLY didn't have the looks for his many love songs -- but whose interesting, quirky voice actually matched his songs quite well. The Carpenters, Helen Reddy, and Three Dog Night did his songs...but eventually Williams cut his own albums and did his own singing.

Still, Nyro was more soulful and artful than the more commercial Paul Williams, I guess.

[–] Owlwise (1535) 4 years ago

Yes, the jazz influence is definitely there, I'd say. Miles Davis was a fan of hers, apparently; there are pictures of him visiting her in the Columbia recording studios they both used at the time.

I understand what you meant by her looks, given the way so many pop artists today are judged more by their looks than by their singing ability. I didn't take your comment as anything remotely disparaging to Laura, just as an honest observation. Looks mattered even then. But it's true that quirky or non-standard looks were much more accepted & even encouraged then, as well. It was always the delivery that mattered most. And she could always bring it. :)

[–] Adam60z (3766) 4 years ago

My favorite Nyro album is New York Tendaberry. Actually Wedding Bell Blues is from her first album which she had no artistic control of, so the producer made her do top 40 type stuff. She then met David Geffen who changed that.
I saw her at the Bottom Line in '88 & '89 (yes the performance they made the album from). Anyway I don't think it was her looks that stopped her fame (on the level of say Barbra Streisand). She wasn't mainstream enough, however she had success in songwriting. She was one of those recognized after her time as most true artists are.

[–] Owlwise (1535) 4 years ago

That is her most deeply personal album, I think. How I envy you for having had the chance to see her live!

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

And I hereby withdraw the "looks comment." Hey, Streisand is the evidence right there(though she certainly has her own beauty.) More likely the problem was Nyro's jazz-riff-like artistry and refusal to go with the usual pop sensibility in her singing.

My envy is extended as well to those who saw her in person -- and my respect for the expertise here.

Me..I just very much enjoyed those YouTube videos of her -- including a very truncated one of her singing "Wedding Bell Blues" outdoors and lip-synced for some black-and-white TV perf. You can tell she wasn't really interested in traditional rock salesmanship. She even allows a "sniffle" to break her facial control at one point.

[–] Owlwise (1535) 4 years ago

For a similarly unique artist who never got her due, I'd recommend Judee Sill. She also fused the spiritual with the sensual, but took a somewhat different approach to it than Laura did, with a Jesus-as-lover-and-cosmic-cowboy-outlaw in many of her songs. Not only a distinctive songwriter & performer, but also a brilliant arranger of her own work.